Glass-plate bend-breaking machines have been proposed in which a press-breaking device is moved within a plane, which is parallel to the surface of a glass plate placed on an endless belt, and along a bend-breaking line formed on the glass plate, while a glass-plate receiving device is moved below the endless belt in correspondence with the movement of the press-breaking device.
In the above-described glass-plate bend-breaking machine, since the placing of the glass plate on the endless belt is effected by a manual operation, in a case such as where a bend-breaking line (main cut line) has been formed in advance on the glass plate in a preceding process, unless the placing is effected by exercising precautions sufficiently, there is a possibility that the glass plate becomes bend-broken at the bend-breaking line, so that this operation entails an extreme danger.
In addition, with the above-described glass-plate bend-breaking machine, a multiplicity of openings are formed in a supporting plate for supporting the endless belt, and press-breaking devices and glass-plate receiving devices are arranged in correspondence with the multiplicity of openings, respectively, and bend-breaking is effected in an apportioned manner in each opening. Consequently, unless a bend-breaking line with a certain measure of depth has been formed, there is a possibility that bend-breaking cannot be effected completely at a position between adjacent openings.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above-described aspects, and its object is to provide a glass-plate bend-breaking machine which is capable of automatically placing the glass plate on a flexible member such as an endless belt without involving a manual operation, and which does not entail a danger in the bend-breaking operation of the glass plate.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a glass-plate bend-breaking machine which is capable of bend-breaking the glass plate reliably along a cut line without a bend-breaking error.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a glass-plate bend-breaking machine in which even if a single or a small number of openings are provided in a supporting member for supporting the flexible member such as the endless belt, the flexible member is prevented from sagging much.